Warrington aim to disprove the popular theory that they have become uncomfortably reliant on their co-captain Ben Westwood when they take on Leeds without him on Friday night.

The Wolves have stuttered through much of the season, enduring a couple of especially poor results in April when Westwood was missing with a calf injury, and their coach Tony Smith conceded it was no coincidence that they returned to form in such impressive fashion by demolishing St Helens at the Magic Weekend, with the England forward back in their ranks.

But now Westwood is out for another three matches, this time through suspension after he was found guilty of a dangerous tackle in last Sunday’s win at Wakefield. That has left Smith irritated by the enduring inconsistency of the game’s disciplinary procedures, but challenging the rest of his squad to show they can cope without one of the toughest players in the Super League.

“It’s not the fact that Benny’s been banned, it’s the fact that other very similar tackles have gone unpunished,” he said, having brought a laptop to compare Westwood’s offence with a tackle by St Helens’ James Roby on Michael Monaghan at the Etihad Stadium.

“Leeds are the benchmark of the competition at the moment, so the timing of it isn’t great,” Smith added, having already lost his other starting second-row, Trent Waterhouse, for months with a knee problem. “But we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Jamie Peacock returns for Leeds after taking a break last week following the bruising Magic defeat by Wigan.

A Warrington win would allow St Helens to displace the Rhinos from the top of the table assuming they beat Salford at Langtree Park. The Saints coach, Nathan Brown, has been much happier this week after his team bounced back from their defeat by Warrington to beat Huddersfield last Friday night, conceding that his forwards, and especially the Samoan Mose Masoe, appeared to have received a wake-up call.

In Friday’s other game Widnes will hope to capitalise on the apparent inability of the Catalan Dragons to replicate their impressive home form on their regular trips to the north of England, and consolidate their own place in the top eight.

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